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Columbia guard Zamarion Jones fires a pass through The Rock defense during the Hitchcock's Challenge on Saturday. (JORDAN KROEGER/Lake City Reporter)
ALACHUA — Despite all the ebbs and flows and momentum swings within each game, Columbia walked away from winter break feeling pretty good.
The Tigers wrapped up the Hitchcock’s Challenge with a come-from-behind 60-48 win against The Rock on Saturday at Legacy Park, ending the game on a 16-4 run to finish the tournament 3-1. It capped a solid 10 days for CHS, which also went 2-1 the week prior at the Battle on the Island at Fleming Island.
It also gives a young squad some momentum heading into the second half of the year. The Tigers (8-5) have won seven of their last nine since their 1-3 start and will have five of their final 10 scheduled games at home after playing just two of their first 13 in their own gym.
“This is the momentum I wanted,” Columbia head coach Steve Faulkner said. “I would’ve liked to have won one of the other two. I would’ve liked to have beat Ribault or Nease, but we’ll take what we got and just continue to get better. That’s the biggest thing. Getting a lot of home games over the next three weeks is going to help. We’ve only had two home games all year, so getting five in January is going to help get some home cooking and maybe get some of these guys going a little bit more. But I’ll take it. We’re battling. It’s a work in progress.”
Marlin Haywood led Columbia in Saturday’s win with 16 points and three steals, while Zavian Douglas recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Zamarion Jones also posted a stuffed stat line that included nine points, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals.
Ka’marion Bryant contributed as well with eight points in Saturday’s win against the Lions (8-7), a win where the Tigers scored 44 points in the second half after trailing 20-18 at the break.
“To their defense, it was their seventh game in 10 days,” Faulkner said. “We haven’t had a whole lot of time to correct stuff. They’ve got to be tired. I’m tired and I’m not running up and down the court. So, I know they’re tired and that was part of it. But I told them at halftime that you can’t let the fatigue control your effort.”
Columbia fell behind 25-20 early in the third quarter but ended the period on a 17-6 run. The Rock answered with an 8-2 spurt to retake the lead early in the fourth, but Haywood hit a 3 to put the Tigers back in front 42-40.
After The Rock tied the game at 42 and then again at 44, Bryant hit a floater and Jones made a layup to give Columbia the lead for good. Lorrenzo Morris put in a floater on the other end for the Lions, but Haywood answered with another 3-pointer to kick off a 12-2 run to finish the game.
The Tigers didn’t allow a field goal in the final three minutes, pulling away for victory despite The Rock getting 17 points from Colton Sembower and 15 from Brady Bishop.
“I told them if you get three consecutive stops, we’ll win this game,” Faulkner said. “We didn’t get that stop (Morris’ floater) but we got five in a row after that. And down the other end we either converted or got to the foul line and made free throws. So that’s the whole thing. I think that’s kind of what I’m learning who this team is. We have to focus more on the defensive end and let it fuel our offense. We don’t have some of the guys we’ve had in the past that can get a bucket whenever we want, so we have to learn to be more committed defensively and how that’s going to feed our offense.”
The Tigers will finally get some rest before returning to practice on Tuesday. They don’t play another game until Jan. 6 when they’ll host Madison County at 7:30 p.m.
“For the most part, our break has been successful,” Faulkner said. “The two teams we lost to were good teams and they were better than us that day. Happy that we get a couple of days break and then we’ll get at it before we play Madison.”